The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1887-05-04

an lay in stock o. suckers agin q coon
famine. But Shadrack WANT of a meek
an forgivin's natur' like me, an so, in
std o. talSin' the olive branch 1 offered,
he grabs up couple o. big stuns an
chucks 'em In the water ahead O. me an
the suckers. That skeert the timid fish
th't was in the lead, an they got de-
mor'lized an turned tail. The panic
spread to the hull caboodle o. suckers,
an the fust thing know'd l were h'isted
up in the air zif I'd ben blowed up in a
blast, an wh-o-o-ol away l were goin'
back down stream like a hailstorm in a
hurrycane o. wind Thar were. Peleg,
ridin' high an dry on big raft o. suck
ers, an g6in' sumpin' like a miled
minute boun' fer somewhar, but whar 1
didn't know. Ye orter be very thankful,
sonny, tht yer livin' now, an not in
them days wen US pioneers was suffer-
in an runnin' risks like that, jist to
plant civilization an git it in shape fer
folks that's livin' nowl
'T were boosted way up so high by that
raft o. demor'lized suckers th't ez we tore
along towards our folks's clearin' could
look right down over the raise twixt it
an the creek, an ez we come higher |
could see my hard-workin' pap settin' in
the cabin door smokin' his corn-cob pipe,
and my easy-goin' nanny chopin
wood to git supper with. Thinks | to
myself, wonder if they'd ever find me
when this runaway food o. b'ilin' waters
an panic-struck suckers comes to a head
some'rs2 An iist then we struck the bend
in the creek nigh the clearin'. The bend
| M n fHo rrlo in n
ship-knee, an wen the wall o. suckers
plunked agin it the bank O. the bend
bein' twenty-five foot high an all rock,
'twere like the comm together o. two in
gines. The body o. the army were fetched
up standin', but me an the top layers o.
the sucker raft was five foot higher'n the
rocks an as we hadn't hit nuthin' we
KEEP straight on. We left the water
route, an travelled the rest o. the way
by the air line, an fore my good
OF parents know'd wat hit 'em they
was kivered snug an comfortable in
under sumpin' like half an acre o.
scukers, not countin' me. 1t took me
quite vile to dig the ol' folks out; but
they want hurt anything wuth men
tionin'. My folks WANT noways noted
fer bein' curious bout things, an all th't
were ever said bout that big sucker fish
o. mine was this. Nam says: Wizard
ye ketch emf In the bend o. the creek,
l says, I've alluz heered, says pap, 'th't
the best time to ketch suckers were on
the fust flood. an this makes it good.
An that ended it; but we had fresh
suckers, an salt suckers, an smoked
suckers, an sucker pop from then on till
the mex Christmas. So We see, Peleg,
that them wild waves didn't say nothin
to me, but they got right up an done,
an"
The Old Settler was cut short off il
whatever moral he intended to draw, fol
the doing cat hurled herself against his
stomach by one wild leap from the splint
bottomed rocking chair, and with yell
that scared dog on the opposite side Of
the road, and brought Peleg's grand
mother out of the sitting room ON a trot
The cat sank its claws deeper and deeper
into the Old Settler, and he joined in the
yelling. Little Peleg went quietly out Of
the kitchen door, and by the time his
grandmother had removed a patent
clothes pin from the cats tail he was hal
way over to Bill Simmons's.-Ed Mott
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